THE NEW AGE
by Galaxy14
Summary: The world is coming to an end (isn't it always?) and some people just need to figure out how to survive. Live or die trying, right? Hanna Davis and a group from her old home are trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world where there's no order or standards left to uphold. How long will everyone survive? Rated T for future violence and gore.
1. Chapter 1: THE BEGINNING

_**A/N: okay guys, new story, hope you like it. It's just a start to what I hope will be a long and c**_**omplete _story. So, tell me what you think, and thanks in advance for reading._**

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**THE BEGINNING**

_ I looked out over the edge of the city. My sigh echoes through the moist dawn air. So much had changed in just a few years, back when I was fourteen, I'm seventeen now, the world had just gone on with business as normal. Concerts, government problems, nuclear missile threats, revolutions in certain countries… But now. Now the whole world was in shambles and decaying fast. Even its inhabitants. I could hear screams and shouts from down below, orders from a group's leader, I suppose. Seconds later there's a flash and a boom that follows. Just another example of the chaos happening. And yes, it's happening everywhere. But let's start from the beginning._

**[Hanna Davis; seventeen-year-old; small town outside Charlotte, North Carolina]**

It was the middle of a chilly of a December morning when the news started to broadcast a super storm on the horizon. Supposedly it was to mark the end of the world as we knew it. So my family, as being one of the more prepared ones, hid underground in our "community shelter", more like a bomb shelter. Every country was prepared for a disaster but not a natural one. Russia and a few of the other countries had threatened the world with nuclear bombs. As a precaution, the governments had bomb shelters placed methodically throughout their countries to help at least some of us survive if that happened.

The storms struck just a few days afterward and once we all emerged from our holes, we saw the damage that it had caused. Many towns were leveled and many others destroyed so that it would take years to rebuild. And that's when the fighting broke out. First it was only looters and swatters trying to hide out in someone's property that had went to live somewhere else at the time. But as time progressed, things got much worse. Valuables were all gone by this time and fights broke out. Let me get this straight though, not just in my town. This is happening all around the world, the storm swept across the globe with unbelievable force. Many countries just let these fights go on but others had their police force go out to stop these "problems". But the so called "problems" became whole revolutions in some countries like Germany, parts of the United States and Russia.

Lucky for me, one of the revolutions was close. I got a firsthand experience of this whole business. Let me just tell you though, if there's a way to avoid it, get out fast, it's not at all pretty. Ten police officers in my area died within the first couple days and the government had to intervene. Twenty more people were killed the next day and we made national headlines. **"Small Town: We Want Protection" **but all we got was persecution and heightened security measures. We were on lock down for a long time and each of us was questioned for information on why it happened. The interviewers all got the same answers. _It's the end of the world and we've gotta live through it._

**[Five months later]**

Russia, China and the United States have finally decided to drop nuclear bombs on the most problematic countries: Russia, Brazil, Portugal, United States, Japan and Germany. They're scheduled to drop on May 27th. All other measures haven't worked with controlling the revolutions, even the automated police force that Russia had perfected. The information leaked out into the world a week earlier so the whole world had gone silent and dark as we hid, once again, underground to let this pass.

All was quiet for about two weeks after the scheduled destruction. But then the world emerged to a cloudy grey sky that hung over the atmosphere. Huge craters were shown from satellite images where the bombs were dropped. The crime and death level went down quickly and normal life resumed for about a month until a new virus was detected. The places where the bombs were dropped started to get infected first. A scientist figured out it was because of the radiation. Those poor people died just a few weeks later, but that wasn't all. No one knew at first, but their corpses reanimated. Yet again, information leaked and people began to call it the "walking dead virus". People started disappearing at this time, either they were the survivalists who fled to their mountainous refuges or they were the ones who thought life was becoming hopeless and killed themselves while the world slept. Lots of cases seemed to be turning up though of people dying mysteriously in their sleep. I had heard this happened a lot during wartime, but now? Scientists investigated and reported that these people had died because they had no hope left, no hope whatsoever so they had no will to live. After that, the scientists were useless. So was most of the world's military. They had only been able to hold off for so long before the numbers of the living dead grew too much. Many small countries didn't know how to deal with them so they got overrun quickly. The larger countries just figured out that the only way to kill these _things _was a shot to the head. Even decapitation didn't work; you'd have to do two blows if you wanted it done that way. These things didn't have any weapons, but they had numbers and those numbers were slowly approaching and taking the whole world.

Now, let's start with my side of the story, shall we?


	2. Chapter 2: AFTERMATH

**_A/N: Phew, that was fast. New chapter the day after it was first posted. Well, this chapter has more World War Z elements to it. Hope you all enjoy, thanks so much for reading._**

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**AFTERMATH**

**[Three months after the nuclear bombs have been dropped.]**

Most of the world's population has gone down, at least to four billion. Why? Many countries set up camps to exterminate the infected. Examples of these countries were: India, China, most of Africa, Argentina and many others. Praise the heavens that the United States hadn't started that yet.

This morning, I had been awoken by the bright rays shining down into my eyes from the afternoon sun. My raw, sunburnt skin was already red enough as it was and I kept forgetting to put a cap over my face before I went to sleep in the morning. Just for clarification, I had the night shift for my group. I started working around the barricaded camp we called home three weeks ago when I turned seventeen. My main job was working with the town's K-9 unit. Yes, we were a military based town so we had strategy at first. I got assigned a partner, a German shepherd puppy not yet two months old.

Let me tell you how this works. Dogs, as we all should know, have a better sense of smell than we do. So they can smell those zombies coming up around us. We use that to our advantage. The first experiment with them was a disaster because we tried to put all the pups on the front lines and train them to be military dogs. Obviously, only some of them were cut out for it, so the ones that weren't died within a few days because of the attacks. So we started to sort them out when they were young. We'd put the dogs in a divided room with zombies on the other side. The pups that ran to the back wall and whimpered were the ones who were immediately counted out. But those who looked straight into those dead eyes and held their ground were the ones we kept for training and my pup, Rylee, passed the first test. Her markings were typical for a German shepherd; her whole body was black but her legs and the insides of ears, and stomach were light tan. There were also bandit marks around her eyes that we tan. She was a smart, small little puppy. Big paws, so I knew she'd get big.

The K-9 unit of our community was to make enough noise to bring a certain number of them towards us at a time. At first, the K-9's would yelp and bark as loud as they could and run off, just bringing in a few at a time. But later on, they'd learn how to slow down, reeling in as much of them as possible. We'd also use them to clear out infested buildings. They'd bark at the entrance where we wanted them to come out, our line would be a few steps back from the doors so we'd only have to shoot one at a time. And it worked like a charm. But I was always concerned with my puppy; I didn't want her to get hurt like so many others did.

**[Two months after Hanna got her K-9]**

Me and a few others had been sent out to get supplies from the city. Our group leader was one of those older middle-aged guys who used to be a jarhead when there was still a United States Military. There were a few of them in our community so they were naturally leaders. They knew how to take hold of a situation. So other than the jarhead, there were a few twenty-something's and another K-9 unit. His name was Dalton. His dog was a small Jack Russell named Flash, I'd known both of them for a while and we went through training together.

We headed into the city on foot after driving a few miles; we just put the car in the middle of the road for easy escape if we had to make it back quick. The group headed to the nearest CVS or Walgreens to get medicine and other supplies, no trouble yet, only a few G's. But once we got closer to the center of the city (we needed clothes for the colder months to come) there were more. And of course, that was expected because cities usually held more of the population and the radios had broadcasted the major cities went down first: New York, London, Seoul and all the others I can't name. The department stores were already close to ransacked by the terrified survivors who didn't know what to do but hoard stuff. But we took what we could get and started heading back. Dalton and I were useless except for reading and interpreting our K-9's actions so we were loaded with all the supplies while the others held their weapons at the ready. Don't get me wrong though, we had our weapons, small little handguns with silencers on them.

It was when we were almost two blocks outside the department store. They came at us from all angles, even the alleyways to the left and right. Our team leader acted fast and helped all five of us up on top a few of the abandoned vehicles, Dalton and Flash were the last ones up because Flash got skittish whenever someone, even his handler, tried to pick him up; and we started firing. No time for escape, I guess. Rylee sat beside me, looking as calm as ever and staring into the G's eyes while the bodies began stacking up. There was a perfect ring of at least fifty bodies around us once the wave was over. Jason, that's the jarhead's name, he ordered us to get down and make a run for the car. He knew there'd be more coming. And right he was. We were attacked again just before we got to the car. This time there were just a few so they were put down quickly, and we had warning because Rylee started growling low and deep. One of her many signs that G's were approaching.

**[Back at home base.]**

Jason thanked me and Dalton for helping with this run and keeping calm (K-9 units were usually never sent out, but we needed practice other than at home). I nodded in thanks and started to walk back to my tent with Rylee when I heard footsteps behind me. Dalton came over and smiled at me. "Good work over there, your dog's a real champ."

I smiled back, not really one to get many complements. "Thanks, you too." There was a long, awkward pause between me and him before he started talking about some other mission Flash had been sent out on. He was waving his arms around while he talked when I noticed his bloody sleeve. I wouldn't have worried about it if we hadn't gone on that mission beforehand, but now it was only a precaution. I stopped both of us walking and reached over to grab his wrist. His face fell and whitened.

"It's nothing Anna, just a scratch," he muttered, trying to pull his arm away from me while I pushed up his sleeve to reveal jagged bite marks. I muttered a curse under my breath and looked up at him. His brown eyes were pleading. "Don't you dare turn me in; I'll tell them at some point. I promise."

I didn't let go of his arm and started to drag him across town to the makeshift hospital. He pulled at my hair and shoved me down a few times, but I eventually shut him up with a punch to the jaw. "You're going to be checked out whether you like it or not. I'm not letting anyone else get infected if you are."

Turns out, he had got bitten when he was trying to get up onto the SUV during the wave outside the department store. Jason, who just happened to be head of security in our community, had the group meet just outside town. The meeting didn't last long, he just made an example of Dalton and how you should get into the habit of actually telling someone if something went wrong. He was executed right then and there, a look of hatred in his brown eyes. Like it had been my fault he was getting killed. Maybe it was, but I wanted to keep everyone safe and keep the rest of us from getting infected by an incompetent boy who didn't want to die.

No one did. But the right thing had to be done.

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**_A/N: Just for information. "G's" is a World War Z term some people used for zombies. It's short for "ghoul" and yeahhh. Thanks again for reading because I really love seeing the number of views (what writer doesn't?). See ya next chapter._**


	3. Chapter 3: MISSION STARTED

**_A/N: Okie dokie. So here's chapter 3, little bit longer now. I hope to update this story every Wednesday or Thursday now. But skip next week because I'm heading out on a family trip. Happy college graduation to my older sister! I hope all that hard work pays off soon! Anyway, thanks in advance for reading. Enjoy_**

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**MISSION STARTED**

**[Five months after the G's invaded all of America. Community 143 has moved from their original location to safer ground 10 miles from where they began.]**

After the whole "execution" of my friend Dalton, people were more careful and not many others wanted to volunteer for the supply runs anymore. There was only a group of about six of us that always had to go out. Others would just help sort the stuff we brought back or they would go out hunting in the surrounding area.

A few weeks ago, the government sent out a national radio message telling everyone who had a radio to contact them on this frequency to see who was left alive. We were the largest group of survivors, one hundred forty-two in all. So for that they contacted us with the name "Community 142 or Group 142." We were to check in every week on Saturday afternoon to report on how many were dead, how many G's we killed every week and if we needed more supplies. I didn't get that last part, because after all, who would get us those supplies even if we did need them? We hadn't seen any aircraft flying overhead since the nuclear explosions and the government was stationed in some underground base somewhere outside D. C. and we were in North Carolina. Driving a few cars down would be pretty risky too.

One of the first times they conversed with us, we informed them about our K-9 units. They were impressed beyond belief with our ingenuity and said they wouldn't have thought of training the dogs to smell the zombies as soon as we did. I was one of the few handlers who got to talk with these government geeks. They just asked questions about how we fended them off with the dogs and how we would kill them otherwise when the dogs weren't there. More impressed gasps from their side. Finally they did something useful two weeks later and put us in contact with a few of the other groups around the country. At least we had someone to talk to, right?

We all had our turns being able to talk with some of the others, I was able to share the "dog knowledge" with some of them; Group 78 especially. There was a boy about my age who had been trying to press the idea of using the dogs to do that, but their leaders had never allowed it because they thought it was animal abuse. With my help, he got the idea through and was finally allowed to be a handler like me. We shared tricks often. But a few weeks later, I began hearing from him less and less. Eventually, the kid's mom came across the radio and told me that he was dead. He went out on a mission to gather some supplies and never came back.

Yet another tragedy, but, it happens every day. So I replied back with my condolences and signed off.

**[Seven months after G's invaded. They're getting closer to the group's base again.]**

Jason, the old Marine, called me out of my tent early in the morning. I barely had time to get dressed and throw my curly dark brown hair up in a messy bun before he was yelling at me to get out and bring Rylee with me.

Once out the door with Rylee on her leash, I found Jason standing there in full uniform (which just happened to be his green camo pants and a black shirt) staring at me. "You need to get your gear and we're heading out to scout around. There's a hoard coming for camp and we need to find out how big it is."

I tilt my head to the side and frown before replying to him, "just me and you? Or the rest of our usual group, too?" But he dismisses my question and waves me off to go get my gear on, only adding that we might be gone for a few days and to warn my parents. So I head back in after tethering up Rylee's leash to the post out front I had put there a while before when she needed to be kept outside for fresh air. I jogged back to my room in the far corner of the house and grabbed my backpack to start packing stuff I needed. A flashlight, clothes, my dagger and handgun, some dog food for Rylee if she didn't catch any of her actual prey; and that was about it. Jason usually had more supplies to lug around because he was always more prepared and the mission leader. After getting everything together, I called for my parents. No answer. Not too strange, so I scouted around for a piece of paper and wrote a short note stating where I would be and who with. I didn't know how long so I told them exactly that but not to worry.

**[Just outside Community 143; in Jason's SUV]**

"Okay, so we're going to head north east for a little bit. Towards Raleigh, then try to go even farther and see what else is up there. Our supplies down here are running out and we need another way to get vital supplies. Got it?"

We all nod, agreeing absently to Jason's words. No one ever questioned him anyway, if they did, they were crazy. Jason went on to talk to strategies and other tactics while I sat there and petted Rylee's head silently. Almost, but not quite listening to him as he talked. Because most rules didn't apply to the K-9 handlers, we were never at the front lines of battle. We scouted then ran back to tell the others, and I was the only one on this little trip. The others were needed back at base because they were under more of a threat than we were.

The group this time only consisted of me, Jason, two other guys and a very mean looking older woman who had to be in her forties. The lady was our sniper, she sat in the front seat beside Jason in the SUV. And the two guys sat beside me crammed into the middle seat so we had room in the trunk for Rylee's crate. The two guys were brothers, both with short dark hair and dark eyes, really nice people. But they were definitely strong, mentally and physically. They had to be. One, because their parents died in the first wave of attacks and two, because they both had planned to join the military. But obviously, they couldn't anymore because there was no army nationwide, only in D. C.

So we sat in silence the whole ride there, it was about two or three hours of open roads and moaning G's. Every time we would pass by one that got really close to the car, Rylee would put her paws up on the windowsill and growl low in her throat whilst putting her ears flat against her head. A couple times, Jason would look back at me with the fires of Hell in his eyes, he didn't even have to say anything, I knew he was silently commanding me to _shut my dog up_. Why? Because those crazy G's could hear from a mile away, it's insane, and the car was already making enough noise for the whole lot of us without Rylee growling in the background.

**[Raleigh, North Carolina. Approximately 11:24 a.m. on a Thursday]**

We finally get out of the car and stretch a little bit, I let Rylee out first to sniff around for any roaming G's just to make sure. When she comes back and flicks her ears to the side we all know it's safe and sound for now, so we get out to take a look around. The city is just off to our left and I can see a bunch of little moving bodies down in the streets that looked like a whole nest of ants. First impression, not so good. Second, well, we hope that's better and there are still some supplies we can salvage from what's left. Jason gave us an all clear sign and we grab our emptied backpacks and head off with Jason and I at the front of our group while Rylee pads along ahead of us.

Once we chop down quite a few G's on our way to the department store. Rylee begins barking loudly down an alley we were coming up to. Jason glared at me with the _shut your dog up_ look and I ran over to her to calm her down. I glanced down into the alley and saw nothing but a shadowy blur. Probably just another zombie she was warning us about, some did move pretty quickly if they had been reanimated recently.

"What was the deal with your pooch?" Jason asks as he makes his way over, sending the two brothers ahead to keep going. I was still crouched beside Rylee just outside the alleyway before standing up to meet his gaze.

"She probably just saw another zombie, no worries," I reply with an unconcerned shrug before pulling lightly on Rylee's collar and starting to head after the brothers. I could feel Jason's burning gaze in my back as I walked along, but tried not to think too much about it. It's not like I jeopardized the mission, right?

Wrong.

We got to the department store and started gathering up some clothes and other things we could find. I was in the back of the store when I noticed a low shuffling noise in the isle next to me. Rylee crouched down and growled low in her throat and I peeked through an empty spot on the shelf to see into the next row. There was, in fact, a zombie shuffling around on the next isle. Its skin was old and grey tinted while its eyes were sunken back in its head. Tattered clothes hung off its skinny, pale body like they were two sizes too big. I held my breath and put my hand on Rylee's head to keep her quiet and keep the zombie from noticing us. But that plan was cut short because I heard a scream from the front of the store where the lady, whose name was Lydia, was supposed to be guarding. Just after, Jason started to call out for us to_ get the hell over to him, NOW. _So we ran, Rylee a few steps ahead of me, leading me the easiest way to Jason's position. Until that is, the G's magically appeared in our path. I quickly grabbed Rylee's collar and yanked her away from the things before turning to run back where we came from. I pulled out the walkie talkie I was given beforehand and yelled into it that I had to go out the back. Without waiting for an answer we made it to a locked door. It took a few times, but I kicked it open and got outside.

G's were everywhere, some stumbling and shuffling into the alley I had ended up in. They must've heard the commotion. One's dead eyes locked with mine for a moment before it came lumbering toward me. I pulled out the handgun and shot at its head, I wasted two rounds before managing to calm myself and get a headshot. Once that one was out of the way, we sprinted forward and ran from the alleyway. I really wish we had the technology to make grenades now, even though it'd only make more come. I would've really liked to have one so I could at least clear a path to get out of this infested city.

Let me just say again, they were _everywhere_. It was then that I thought that we had no way to get out. I had already been separated from my group and all I had was a gun with limited ammunition, a dagger and a dog that could only knock down the G's. No, she could lead them away. _Good thinking Hanna, forget about all the training you put Rylee through. She can do this._ So I patted her side and told her the command. She then raced off down the street, barking and howling like mad, leading the G's away from me.

Right then, I heard a groan from behind me, then a dull _thud_ of something hitting the ground. Before I even had a chance to turn around, something cold and hard hit the back of my head and the world tumbled down into a swirling mass of black shapes.


End file.
